One Month Later
Hokage Office
The entire office was filled with such thick black smoke that it surpassed even the Hidden Mist Technique in concealment. It was a pity Zabuza was not present, or he would have taken Hiruzen as a teacher.
" Hokage-sama, Itachi Uchiha has been missing since last night. After investigation with the Uchiha clan, they gave the reason of lack of funds—Itachi Uchiha went to the capital of the Land of Fire to attract business for the Uchiha clan. "
Sarutobi Hiruzen, sitting on his precious Hokage seat, sighed upon hearing this.
" So the Uchiha clan now doesn't even require the permission of the Hokage to leave the village?
Heh, the Hokage seat has truly lost its meaning under my reign. I am indeed too useless. "
Hearing Sarutobi Hiruzen's words, the ANBU ninja clenched his fists tightly, boiling with anger toward the evil Uchiha clan.
" Hokage-sama, you have given everything for the village. The villagers are just misled by the Uchiha clan, and everyone has misunderstood you. The villagers will eventually see the truth. "
Hearing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled.
" Owl, you are indeed someone who sees things clearly. Many people are blinded by the illusion of the Uchiha clan.
Haah ( sigh )
Even the ANBU has nearly become empty. Owl, Konoha will depend on you in the future. Sorry for the trouble. "
Owl, hearing this, was so moved by the trust and responsibility placed upon him by his beloved Hokage-sama that he banged his head on the ground three times consecutively.
" Hokage-sama, I will live up to your trust. "
After saying that, the ANBU disappeared, as if willing to carry out every task for his beloved Hokage-sama.
Hiruzen got up from his seat and looked at the streets of Konoha from the window.
Hundreds of civilians and ninjas were protesting, demanding justice and compensation for the victims. Many among them even demanded the head of Sarutobi Hiruzen, for him to pay for all the darkness of Konoha.
Sigh
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed while thinking about the events that had happened last month in Konoha.
Since that accursed day, when he was humiliated by the Uchiha clan, the Uchiha clan had been regularly spreading confidential documents of the village.
These documents held many of the mistakes of the Hokage faction, which enraged the public. It's not that he didn't try to protect the confidential documents from the Uchiha clan; in fact, he even united with the other ninja clans and tried to negotiate with the Uchiha. But those evil Uchiha wanted to destroy Konoha at any cost.
Once, the situation escalated so much that the two sides almost got into physical violence. But seeing the two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan, he remembered that the Uchiha were still from Konoha, and as the Hokage and a follower of the Will of Fire, he couldn't raise his hands against fellow villagers.
Thus, in order to prevent infighting in the village, he sacrificed his reputation and was once again humiliated.
" It's all because of that damn bastard Danzo "
Saying this, Hiruzen once again sat down on his seat, thinking about the fuse of the protest.
Two weeks ago, the Uchiha clan released the records of ROOT, and at the front of the news was the story—the tragedy of Yakushi Nono, the Wandering Miko of Konoha.
Yakushi Nono, an outstanding ninja of Konoha, worked under ROOT, and after many years of service, she retired from the position and became a medical ninja who served in Konoha Hospital.
The kind kunoichi also ran an orphanage that adopted orphans and gave them the family they lacked. But ROOT regularly kidnapped children from the orphanage for their members, and Nono couldn't do anything.
When Nono finally couldn't bear it and wanted to fight back, Danzo—a Konoha elder and friend of Sarutobi Hiruzen—gave Yakushi Nono a final mission, after which Danzo and ROOT would not interfere in the matters of the orphanage.
But the mission that Nono received was to assassinate someone in the Land of Earth, and coincidentally, one of her adopted children, Yakushi Kabuto, received a similar mission—but his was a little different. His mission was to assassinate his mother.
Yakushi Kabuto, under the gruesome training of ROOT, almost became emotionless, and due to their years of separation, he couldn't recognize her immediately.
Only after her death did Yakushi Kabuto recognize her.
After that, it was written—the twisted need for such a mission, of a child killing his mother.
ROOT ninjas were made to be tools that could protect Konoha, and tools can't have emotions. So, to break their emotions, they had to undergo gruesome training—fighting and even killing their clan members, their fellow villagers, and their close ones.
Finally, to complete their training, they had to kill their most important person. And for Kabuto, Nono was the most important person, and thus, she died.
Seeing such stories and records, let alone the innocent villagers, even the cruel ninjas felt a chill. They looked at the number of people who died inside ROOT just because of their training.
The family members and friends of those who died in ROOT broke into tears upon seeing such outcomes. Even the families and friends of the ninjas who survived became enraged after seeing the hardships their loved ones had to endure just to become tools.
Thus, throughout Konoha, protests were carried out.
---
Tanzaku Town — Tanzaku Quarters
Tanzaku Town is famous throughout the entire Land of Fire for its entertainment district, which includes the biggest gambling district in the entire Land of Fire.
"ODD! ODD! ODD! ODD!"
"EVEN!"
"It seems, guest, that you have lost again.
So what will it be this time?"
In a fairly large gambling house, unlike other days, today only one game was being played.
Even or Odd.
Surrounding a single table, a dozen or so men stared at the woman sitting on the opposite side of the table, a bottle of alcohol in her hand and anger clouding her face.
The Legendary Sucker — Tsunade Senju.
It is said that she wins only once a decade, and the rest of the time she only loses. For gamblers, 99.9999% is the same as 100%, thus everyone present had abandoned their own games and were now ripping Tsunade off.
"Ahhhhh, I would definitely win this time.
Shizune, bet on even this time."
"Tsunade-sama, we have already lost all the loan money we took yesterday. We do not have any money left."
Hearing this, Tsunade wilted, then turned toward the boss present.
"Boss, lend me 100,000 no 1,000,000 ryō, and I will pay you back 2,000,000 an hour later."
Hearing this, the smile on the boss's face disappeared, and without a word, he left the place.
Who didn't know that Tsunade had borrowed hundreds of millions of ryō, and half of the gambling houses in the Land of Fire were after her? Did she think he was an idiot?
"Tsk"
Seeing the boss's response, Tsunade clicked her tongue in frustration.
"Shizune, let's go."
Without another word, Tsunade left the gambling house, searching for a cheap restaurant to stay at.
"Tsunade, you are still the same as before, huh?"
Hearing the voice, Tsunade's head cleared a little. She turned toward it and found a white-haired old man standing in a pose that only he found cool.
"Jiraiya, it's been a long time since we met."
Shizune, who was now hurriedly catching up with Tsunade while carrying a bag and a pig, was also shocked upon seeing Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya-sama..."
---